Quad-core devices accounted for less than 8 percent of smartphones shipped in China in 2012, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The low adoption rate is attributed to the high cost of quad-core chips, heavy battery consumption and lack of optimization of software, the ministry said in its 2013 Mobile Internet White Paper.

Since last year, quad-core has been a primary selling point of handset makers. In China, some quad-core smartphones fell below 1,000 yuan each.

Nonetheless, ministry data shows that time is needed for handsets to become truly mainstream in China.